


Settling In

by shinchansgirl



Series: Twist of Fate [2]
Category: Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Genre: Complete, M/M, POV: John Marcone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-25
Updated: 2012-06-25
Packaged: 2017-11-08 12:12:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/443075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinchansgirl/pseuds/shinchansgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short side-story to Twist of Fate, from John Marcone's point of view. Occurs during Chapter Six, a few days after John calls Harry at work.</p><p>Hendricks and Marcone discuss Harry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Settling In

“I don’t like it.”

My hand paused on the check, my signature only half-written. It wasn’t the donation he had doubts about, though, and we both knew it.

I didn’t want to have this conversation. There wasn’t really a point in trying to avoid it either; eventually, we would have to talk about the situation. That didn’t mean I wanted it to happen here and now, though. “There are a number of things I currently find distasteful, and I would guess that you agree,” I said, hoping I might delay it for a few minutes or even hours. Still, it wouldn’t be good to have Nathan think I was dismissing him. “You going to be more specific?” I finished my signature and placed the check in the proper envelope, sealing it with a glue pen.

Licking it would have tasted nasty. Besides, this way when the men in blue got my donation they wouldn’t be able to get any DNA from my saliva – only the fingerprints they already had on file. There wasn’t any need to make life easy for Lieutenant Murphy and her cohorts.

Slipping into a more casual tone would also let Nathan know we weren’t being monitored. He’d swept the room himself several times this week, as had I, but it seemed we always erred on the side of caution.

If Nathan had the magical ability Harry does, it is possible he could have started a small fire with the gaze he shot towards me. Fortunately for me, any magical talent my bodyguard did have was well buried. “I meant Dresden,” he said. “I just – I don’t get it, John. Why _him_?”

It was hard to explain in terms that didn’t sound cliché and overused, but the answer was simple. He was mine. “I fell in love.” Nathan would have to accept it.

“With a _man_?”

“Yes.”

Nathan sighed, and sprawled himself into one of the chairs I typically offered guests. It was a treat to see him so relaxed and open; more often than not, Nathan played a role more suited to sports jocks and dumb muscle while he worried himself into what would likely be an early grave. I knew why he didn’t want me with Harry. It wasn’t because he was a man; Nathan had seen me with male lovers before, and accepted those occasional one-night stands.

Harry was more permanent.

Harry also wasn’t a part of the underground world we lived in; he was eccentric, he was brave, he was reckless, he was magical, he was a man - the list went on. He wasn’t of our “blood,” as some might say. “He’s a liability,” Nathan noted.

“I know.” He was that, too.

He stared at me for a while longer, and I didn’t bother trying to act like a mafia boss or crime lord. No amount of Godfather moves were going to get a serious reaction from the man who’d seen me crawl up from the slums.

Nathan and I were friends, we had been for a long time, and he knew it would be an act. He deserved better than this life, and it troubled me to have led him into it, but I hadn’t gotten to be a driving force in Chicago without making a few sacrifices. Losing a few morals. Nathan had helped get me here, and he’d made sacrifices as well. Significant ones.

Finally, Nathan sighed and slouched back into the chair again. Not completely relaxed, but we never were any more. My mattress had a gun-shaped dent under the pillow to prove it. “There’s a gang down on the waterfront stirring up trouble – saying they won’t work for you. They’re claiming they had a deal go bad, but the rumor has more truth, in my opinion.”

“They’re the ones who wanted me to marry the daughter of their former head of operations, correct?”

Nathan nodded. “Street scuttlebutt has it she’s pissed you chose him over her, and wants you to suffer for the choice.”

Women were occasionally very vindictive creatures. There were a few I was keeping my eye on, just in case they saw fit to avenge some slight. The Beckitts were one such case – the woman and the man – and Bianca was another. The Mistress had made very clear that she was displeased with Harry, and would be seeking revenge. Her movements were monitored as closely as I dared. This girl was petty, and a small threat, but her ideas could plant the seeds that grew other monsters. It could put my men at risk, and eventually Harry as well.

“Have Trent go down and negotiate with either Mr. Lopez or Mr. Santiago. Let them know that I am available to reconcile any trades they perceive as unfair, and that they are always welcome to take their money elsewhere if they think they can get a higher quality from someone else. It might also be wise to remind him that I lost money the last time we traded with him, and if the trends continue with his men I will have to seek a new buyer.”

Nathan nodded, already texting instructions on his phone and arranging meetings. “They’re still only working with legit goods, right?”

“I wouldn’t even trust them with cigarettes, and those are legal,” I said, unable to keep a bit of snipe from my voice. Nathan and I didn’t act like bodyguard and boss, but we made the plans for the act. And he would always follow my lead. “Lopez is ruled by his sister, and she changes moods at the drop of a hat. Keep them in the construction goods, and find them legit work. If they can’t handle it, move them to one of the garages – we’re short one, without the Street Wolves. The business would make a nice meet for trade-offs if we can get a good location. All trades would be done without Lopez or Santiago’s knowledge, of course.”

Nathan nodded. “Construction first, though?”

I nodded. “The garage would take time to set up. If things get rough, Trent can offer it as incentive for good behavior.”

“What about Eleanor?”

It took me a moment to remember that was Lopez’s sister. The cause of these problems. It would be easiest to simply get rid of her, as I doubted anyone from the group would object, but she hadn’t taken an active enough role yet to deserve such attention. If I started lopping the heads off of anyone who spoke badly about Harry, it would send the wrong message. “Make her an employee of the construction company,” I finally said. “Part of the deal: if they want to work with us, then every member of the group will have to do two years of labor in the construction yards. No desk jobs.”

It would weed out the weak, the uncommitted, and the petty. Eleanor wasn’t stubborn or dedicated enough to break a nail for revenge.

“Isn’t that fueling the fires a bit?”

“It’s leveling the playing field for all of the members,” I said. “Play it off as a test or trial or whatever. Our version of a quarantine. Hard labor for two years, and then the real jobs start.”

Nathan nodded.

“Dresden met with that cop again today. Murphy.”

Nathan’s words weren’t a surprise. He’d told me he’d expected it to happen sometime soon. I was more surprised at the change in subject. Or perhaps it was simply a return to the previous one.

“They shared coffee – and they looked close,” he said.

“I can’t stop him from meeting with others,” I said, as I had several times before. It still stung a bit, whenever Nathan said Harry was close with someone. I knew what he meant by that. He meant Harry was slipping away from the already weak hold I had on him. Karrin Murphy and Susan Rodriguez were the two biggest threats I knew of, though there were bound to be more. Harry wasn’t conventionally attractive, but there was something about the man that drew others to him.

Like that piece of his soul that had called to me.

Harry wasn’t as keen on the attention, however. Not from me, at least. “I already cut it close by calling and asking about the case. He won’t even have _dinner_ with me!” I was suddenly standing and pacing, trapped in the small office that was overcrowded with the large desk and too many chairs and knick knacks. I hadn’t been able to resist teasing him a bit during that call - he’d been alive, and open, and I’d enjoyed his undivided attention.

And it ended with the knowledge that I likely wouldn’t speak to him again for weeks. “It’s been months since I pulled him in, months since he began living with me, and I barely see him in our own house.”

“Maybe that’s because it’s not his yet.”

I had to think about that. Nathan had a habit of pointing out the flaws in my thinking, so it was best to pay attention when he made those comments.

The house was his living space. I owned it on paper, but we both lived there. He had his own bedroom – though I had hoped he would willingly share mine – and a workroom similar to the lab we had found in his apartment. His lab in my home, however, was considerably warmer and brighter with the light of the sun and the large windows. It had been the sunroom, according to the real estate salesman, and a real selling point - along with the bay windows.

Harry didn’t use the niche it created, but his monster of a cat lazed there sometimes. When he wasn’t roaming the halls and terrorizing invisible mice.

Very few people had permission to enter my home, and Harry was one of only three able to enter at any time of the day or night. Myself and Nathan were the other two. There were a handful of men who could enter when I remained at the house during the day, and a lawn service that was monitored by camera as they worked. Two maids and a chef who came once a week.

Harry was getting comfortable, yes, but my house was very different from the apartment he had lived in prior. Where he lived alone, and made an effort to keep everyone else out. Where no one worked the lawn or prepared meals for him. Maybe it was crowded? Or there was too much space? The wrong foods, maybe? He was reluctant to eat with me, and he never ate what was kept in the house. What did he want?

“I know we moved all of his possessions into the house, Nathan, but what has he actually done to make himself comfortable in our home?” I finally asked. Nathan had been the one to notice the problem, it seemed reasonable he’d noticed the details that supported his conclusion. “Aside from his lab, I haven’t seen any changes.”

“Only one, so far as I can tell.”

It took me several moments, but I couldn’t recall any differences in the main part of the house – to any part I had been in. A few changes because of Nathan, mostly for security purposes and planned ahead of time, but nothing else.

“You don’t enter the guest rooms very often, or go down to his rooms. He took down all the mirrors.”

That was… actually very odd. “How’d he get the bathroom mirror down? It’s attached to the cabinet.”

“He covered that one. Two thick sheets, I think. I noticed it at his apartment, too.”

“And other than that, nothing?”

Nathan nodded, slow and deliberate.

I sighed, and sat back down. Harry was frustrating to think about. I didn’t understand him completely, but I wanted him. I wanted him living with me and eating with me. Sleeping by my side. He was mine, and I wanted him and everyone else to know it.

But there were only so many ways I could legally trap him, and even then it was a risk. He worked too closely with that police woman for me to try any more drastic measures, and one glimpse into his soul told me I was already one of those monsters he faced.

It was him against the world – but I wanted it to be him and _me_. I wanted him with me.

I’d even take the cat and the skull as part of the package, if need be.

“What do I do?”

Nathan shrugged. “If he were one of the girls, I’d say take him to a movie. If he were one of the guys, I’d say take him to a bar. He’s not one of us, though.”

He wasn’t. Our girls worked in office buildings and storefronts, listening to conversations and spying on politicos. They had guns in their purses and knives in their bras. The men carried themselves like professional bodyguards and paved the way for the figureheads I had established – negotiators and lawyers with enough smarts to tread the line between legal and needful.

They’d know how to disappear into a dark room or a packed crowd. They’d know what I wanted and take what was offered. They weren’t reckless or fascinating or willing to take a risk on the slight chance they might save a stranger. They didn’t believe in fairies. Of course not, they were gangsters and ruffians, only out to save themselves. They lived in the harsh world of reality, where magic didn’t enter.

Harry – I didn’t know what he’d do if we went out on the town. I couldn’t imagine him letting me teach him pool, however. Or letting me kiss him while the screen flickered in the background. Not without other incentives.

I wanted him to do it because he wanted to. But I’d already seen him and read him and played out the painful possibilities. Not a one of them ended well. He wasn’t going to let himself want me, because I already had my role to play. I had to keep up the act, or I’d scare him further from me.

“I have until the end of the month,” I said, swallowing back the dryness in my throat. “I gave him that long to finish his current case. He’s probably not going to notice, but hang some tapestries on the walls – one or two, to start with. Muted, preferably, and in good taste. A carpet in the entryway, as well.” His apartment had been covered in texture, the one time I’d seen it. Carpets overlaid carpets on the floor, and hanging from the walls were actual tapestries alongside printed sheets and posters. I had thought he simply wasn’t one for decorating, but maybe it was something else.

If he wasn’t going to make himself at home, maybe I could do it for him.

“Now,” Nathan said, “about Harrison...”

Work, it seemed, was never finished.


End file.
